Jul 1, 2011
Distractions are different from obstacles, and we encounter both on our spiritual and life journeys. But there is a difference. An obstacle merely gets in your way. A disrtraction is an attempt to get you to go a different way from the way that is actually yours. Spiritually, academically or vocationally, you might say that a distaction is the opposite of a calling.
Each and every one of us knows someone who has devoted his or her entire life to living within a distraction. They might be living to please others, living to impress people, or simply living to be "the one who dies with the most toys." Regardless, people like that look in the mirror and see a stranger - they do not know who they are, and they act like they don't care.
And, there are plenty of people who will wnat to offer you distractions, and for all kinds of reasons. They range from the "office prima donna" to one form or another of family member who think that they know what you "really need". And the reasons can be anything from their own ego to their fear that you might succeed - or simply to get you to shut up.
And it's amazing what you'll be told in order to get you to follow a distraction instead of a calling.
One of the problems, of course, is to be able to recognize what is a calling and what is a distraction. Sometimes one can look like the other. And then, once we recognize them, we need to know how to deal with them.
Blessed Be!